Modulating the Strength and Threshold of NOTCH Oncogenic Signals by mir-181a-1/b-1

作者：Fragoso Rita^*; Mao Tin; Wang Song; Schaffert Steven; Gong Xue; Yue Sibiao; Luong Richard; Min Hyeyoung; Yashiro Ohtani Yumi; Davis Mark; Pear Warren; Chen Chang Zheng

来源：PLoS Genetics, 2012, 8(8): e1002855.

DOI：10.1371/journal.pgen.1002855

Oncogenes, which are essential for tumor initiation, development, and maintenance, are valuable targets for cancer therapy. However, it remains a challenge to effectively inhibit oncogene activity by targeting their downstream pathways without causing significant toxicity to normal tissues. Here we show that deletion of mir-181a-1/b-1 expression inhibits the development of Notch1 oncogene-induced T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). mir-181a-1/b-1 controls the strength and threshold of Notch activity in tumorigenesis in part by dampening multiple negative feedback regulators downstream of NOTCH and pre-T cell receptor (TCR) signaling pathways. Importantly, although Notch oncogenes utilize normal thymic progenitor cell genetic programs for tumor transformation, comparative analyses of mir-181a-1/b-1 function in normal thymocyte and tumor development demonstrate that mir-181a-1/b-1 can be specifically targeted to inhibit tumor development with little toxicity to normal development. Finally, we demonstrate that mir-181a-1/b-1, but not mir-181a-2b-2 and mir-181-c/d, controls the development of normal thymic T cells and leukemia cells. Together, these results illustrate that NOTCH oncogene activity in tumor development can be selectively inhibited by targeting the molecular networks controlled by mir-181a-1/b-1.

• 出版日期2012-8